House Passes Bill on Variable Student-Loan Rates

By

Josh Mitchell

May 23, 2013 1:44 p.m. ET

The House passed a bill Thursday that would peg the interest rates on federal student loans to the government's borrowing costs and allow them to vary annually, replacing the practice of Congress setting fixed rates.

The bill, passed by a 221 to 198 vote largely along party lines, is unlikely to become law in its current form because of opposition from Senate Democrats and a veto threat from the White House, which says that moving to...